Defense may not file 'stand your ground' motion in Drejka case

The man accused of shooting and killing another man during a dispute over a handicapped parking spot in Clearwater was back in court Friday, asking a judge to loosen his GPS monitoring restrictions.

Attorneys for Michael Drejka told a judge the rules surrounding where he's prohibited from going are too tight and have gotten him in trouble, even though he didn't know he was violating court orders.

"The sheriff was being, let's just say, a little over the top with the restrictions that they had imposed. I mean, he went to vote and they threatened to arrest him," said John Trevena, Drejka's attorney. "The sheriff's office showed up at his door with some admonishments and threats that he was going to go to jail because he transgressed into an area he wasn't supposed to be. Ironically they don't tell him what that area is and they don't give him the address so how is he supposed to know anything?"

According to prosecutors, Drejka wasn't allowed to go anywhere near Markeis McGlockton's girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, her children or McGlockton's parents. The judge took his parents off that list.

Drejka is accused of shooting McGlockton during an argument between Drejka and Jacobs after she parked in a handicapped spot at a convenience store. Surveillance recordings show McGlockton leaving the store and knocking Drejka to the ground, before Drejka pulled out a gun and shot him. Prosecutors believe McGlockton was backing away when he was shot, so they charged Drejka with manslaughter.

An attorney for McGlockton's family, Michele Raynor, said she feels no sympathy for Drejka.

"If you don't kill anybody, if you don't murder anyone in cold blood, you don't have to worry about where you're going," Rayner said.

Following the hearing, Trevena blasted one of the detectives in the case; Detective George Moffett was recently fired after, according to the sheriff, he showed up drunk to a crime scene.

"The detective investigating him was the criminal!" Trevena said. "It's just another twist in what should never have been filed to begin with this case. When you have the lead detective who's arrested for showing up drunk at a crime scene, how are we going to trust any of just judgments or opinions in this case?"

"It doesn't blow up the case because, once again, you have videos that were inside the store: they weren't drunk. You have videos that were outside the store: they weren't drunk," Rayner said in response. "It's convenient, I see what he's doing. He's trying to poke holes, trying to taint the jury pool."

Trevena also indicated for the first time, while he hasn't ruled out filing a 'stand your ground' motion, he is leaning toward letting the case go to trial.

"We may let it go straight to the jury," he said. "[In George] Zimmerman's case, they strategically decided to let that go in that direction, so we're considering that and honestly, we're leaning toward letting a jury make the call."

The case is due back in court in February for a status hearing. A tentative trial date has been set for August.